The quest for civil rights 1917-80 Flashcards
What occurred in 1919 displaying tensions in America?
Red Summer where 25 race riots occurred - biggest in Chicago
What are terms for the Jim Crow laws?
The permanent system or the final settlement
Who created a movement to accept Jim Crow laws?
Booker T Washington
How were blacks persuaded not to vote?
Literacy tests, home-ownership clauses, whites choosing the candidates, white mobs at polling stations
How many black men were lynched between 1915-30?
579
How many members of the KKK were there in 1925?
Between 3 to 8 million
Name 2 famous KKK members in politics?
Edward L. Jackson, Indiana Governor and D.C. Stephenson
What was Harding’s opinion of Civil Rights and what did he do about it?
He disliked segregation (gave speech about it to 30,000 people) yet like Coolidge he was tied to laissez faire so did nothing
What showed the power of the Black electorate in 1919?
Chicago mayoral elections of William Thompson
How did the Great Migration weaken trade unions?
Whites in trade unions were ousted by blacks who would work cheaply
How did Roosevelt help blacks?
Black cabinet in White House, Executibe Order 8802 banning discrimination in defence industry in 1941, and New Deal
How did the New Deal aid blacks?
1/3 of new low-income housing was used by blacks, and NRA put minimum wage as equal for either race
How did the New Deal disadvantage blacks?
Blacks were not protected in New Deal (ie farmers and AAA) and blacks were moved off projects for whites, if the donor wished
How did the communists and civil rights movement mix?
Black support for communists were higher than NAACP in some areas, Scottsboro Trials done by commies and black media supported communist equality desire
How were some 1930s civil rights protests?
Harlem - Father Divine of Peace Mission set up programme to sell cheaper than white-run stores, and Housewives League ‘Don’t buy where you can’t work’ scheme
What was Executive Order 7207?
Resettlement Administration set up to give low-income families new housing, but only helped 3,400 out of 200,000 farmers
What were the failures of WWII in terms of civil rights?
1943 250 ‘hate strike’ race riots, still no desegregation in army and TU excluded blacks
What were the gains that WWII gave blacks?
Race relations committees set up in many places, blacks trained as whites unavailable, white acceptance ie working with blacks and Tuskegee Airman
What shows the racism of congress in 1946?
Fair Employment Practises Commission not funded by Congress
Which piece of legislation abolished discrimination in the army?
Executive Order 9981 in 1948
How did the Cold War tamper with civil rights gains?
Civil Rights became unimportant compared to USSR, and National Negro Congress ended up on communist list due to membership
NAACP membership in 1919 and 1946?
90,000 and then 600,000
1920s civil rights success in courts
1926 Sweet Trial protects people protecting their house from white mobs, and legal fund set up during case as well for blacks
What shows failures of Brown vrs Topeka II?
1965, 1% of black children were in integrated schools
What occurred in 1917 to try to help Civil Rights?
Silent Parade Protest in New York with 10,000 blacks, but no anti-lynching legislation as a result
What pre-Brown direct action movement occurred, after 1940?
1942/49/52 sit-ins to desegregate public facilities and Journey of Reconciliation (interstate bus desegregation) with Congress of Racial Equality in 1947
When did the Montgomery Bus Boycott start?
5th of December 1955
When did the Supreme Court rule bus segregation was unconstitutional?
13th of November 1956
Which group organised the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Montgomery Improvement Association
What did MLK set up in 1957?
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
How did MLK aid the Civil Rights movement?
He gave them a leader and a plan ie on how to appear to be the oppressed, under the oppressor. He also accepted whites into the movement
Which day was the start of the Little Rock Nine incident?
4th of September 1957
How did MLK help the Little Rock Nine?
He talked to Eisenhower about sending down forces to Arkansas, which he did
When was the Greensboro sit-in?
1st of February 1960
What was set up on the 15th of April 1960?
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
What did the SNCC try to do?
Register black voters, often in the most racist parts of the antebellum south
When were the Freedom Rides, what did they try to achieve and who led them?
1961, proving bus restroom facilities were desegregated, and with James Farmer leading within CORE
What was the aim of MLK in Birmingham?
To desegregate the entire city
How did MLK go about his business in Birmingham, 1963?
Filled jails with children and protestors, distributed leaflets about the American Dream, provoked violence from Bull Connor the Chief of Police
Percentage of Americans calling race the most pressing problem in 1962 and post-Birmingham
3% up to 42%
What was the aim of the Freedom Summer in 1964 and how much success did it have?
Black voter registration in Mississippi by SNCC members, though 6 died and only 1,600 voters out of 17,000 accepted
What did Stokely Carmichael set up in 1965?
From the SNCC Carmichael set up the Lowndes County Freedom Organisation, with the idea of Vote Panther, then go home, as well as the Black Power cry
When were the Black Panthers set up and what did they do?
1966, roam the streets armed pushing for more black education and history courses, free schoolchildren breakfasts and sometimes separation from USA by blacks
Price of Watts Riots for LA in 1965
$18 million, 43 dead
How did white views of race riots change in the 60s?
White police violence and black non-aggression changed to one of extreme black bombing and violence
What did MLK do post-1965 and why did this not work?
Social issues, Northern Crusade against slums with Poor People’s Campaign, but was less effective as no unified force, less media interest in social problems rather than violence of Black Panthers
